The present invention relates to hand tools, in particular to a multipurpose drywall tool for use in connection with working drywall.
In the operation and erection of various drywall slabs in a construction site, a wide variety of tools are frequently required, such as, a scraping blade for scraping and smoothing putty; a screwdriver for adjusting protruding screws; a hammer for pounding down protruding nails; a flashlight for diagnosing the smoothness of a surface; and a horn for drawing the attention of nearby workers while suspended on various scaffolding. A variety of tools have been devised for use in working drywall. All such prior drywall tools have significant shortcomings. For example, the combination putty-knives and screw drivers disclosed by Bartlett in U.S. Pat. No. 180,187; the drywall tool disclosed by Marra in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,627; the drywall knife having a screwdriver bit and dimple forming projection disclosed by Chacon in U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,063; the utility tool disclosed by Papadopoulos in U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,786; the trowell and screwdriver combination handtool disclosed by Anderson and Cassutti in U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,222; and the combination putty knife and screwdriver disclosed by Lehmann in U.S. Pat. No. D380,661.
While all of the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a putty knife having a handle with a pair of rounded hammer members attached to opposing corners of the distal end of the handle in which a screwdriver bit is also attachable to the distal end of the handle within an orifice. These integrated elements within a single putty knife specifically match the user""s particular individual needs of an easy to use tool which is effective in drywall construction situations. As such, it may now be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved drywall tool as set for by the present invention which addresses both the problems of ease of use as well as effectiveness of using an integrated tool in construction settings and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.
Therefore, a need exist for a new and improved multipurpose drywall tool that can be used for pounding down protruding nails and screws as well as a drywall tool that can unscrew or screws down screws. In this respect, the multipurpose drywall tool according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of making available an multipurpose drywall tool so that users can have a fully integrated tool that is capable of fulfilling a myriad of task at the worksite.
The present device, according to the principles of the present invention, overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a multipurpose drywall tool comprising a blade attached to the front end of a handle in which the rear corner end of the handle are attached two opposing rounded hardened hammer members. Also attached to the distal end of the handle is attached an engaging means disposed within a orifice in the distal end of the handle. The engaging means for disengagably engaging a screwdriver bit. One preferred configuration of the engaging means is a protrusion attached at an edge of the screwdriver bit and a flange attached at the edge of the orifice, so that the flange is adapted to reversibly receive the protrusion in a frictional interlocking relationship when the screwdriver bit is inserted into the orifice. Yet another preferred configuration of the engaging means comprises a magnet within the orifice, in which the magnet is adapted to reversibly receive the screwdriver bit when the screwdriver bit is inserted into the orifice.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known type putty knife devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved multipurpose drywall tool, which will be described subsequently in great detail, is to provide a new and improved multipurpose drywall tool which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a multipurpose drywall tool that comprises a blade attached to the front end of a handle in which the rear corner end of the handle are attached two opposing rounded hardened hammer members. Also attached to the distal end of the handle is attached an engaging means disposed within a orifice in the distal end of the handle. The engaging means for disengagably engaging a screwdriver bit. One preferred configuration of the engaging means is a protrusion attached at an edge of the screwdriver bit and a flange attached at the edge of the orifice, so that the flange is adapted to reversibly receive the protrusion in a frictional interlocking relationship when the screwdriver bit is inserted into the orifice. Yet another preferred configuration of the engaging means comprises a magnet within the orifice, in which the magnet is adapted to reversibly receive the screwdriver bit when the screwdriver bit is inserted into the orifice.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution of the art may be better appreciated.
The invention may also include a light source with an electrical power source embedded within the tool handle. The invention may also include a speaker source with an electrical power source embedded within the tool handle. There are of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims attached.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved multipurpose drywall tool that has all the advantages of the prior art multipurpose drywall tool and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved multipurpose drywall tool that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved multipurpose drywall tool that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such multipurpose storage unit and system economically available to the buying public.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new multipurpose drywall tool that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thererof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a multipurpose drywall tool for putty knife having a pair of rounded hammer members on opposing corners of the distal end of the handle. This makes it possible to allow the user to pound down nails or screws and the like, with this one integrated tool.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a multipurpose drywall tool having an attachable screwdriver bit mounted within an orifice at the distal end of the handle. This makes it possible for the user to have available a screwdriving means integrated within this present invention to unscrew or to screw screws.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved drywall tool wherein the same utilizes a multiplicity of various tool members mounted to a single structure to accommodate various procedures encountered in drywall construction.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompany drawings and description matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.